In-situ analysis of MBE-grown ZrTe5 thin films

ORAL

Abstract

Originally of interest for its resistivity anomaly, ZrTe5 has been predicted by recent theoretical work to be a quantum spin Hall insulator (QSHI) with band-gap of ~100meV [PRX 4, 011002 (2014)]. Additionally, bulk measurements of ZrTe5 have shown a variety of states from a strong topological insulator (TI) to a weak TI and even a Dirac Semimetal depending on the experimental methods [Scientific Reports 7, 45667 (2017)]. This makes ZrTe5 also interesting for studying the transition from a weak to strong TI. Since experiments so far have used films exfoliated from bulk crystals, they are complicated by the difficulty of exfoliating large area crystals. Moreover, rapid oxidization of ZrTe5 films prevents thorough analysis of exfoliated thin films. To help elucidate the nature of the topological properties of ZrTe5 and achieve a large band-gap QSHI, we have grown epitaxial thin films under ultra-high vacuum using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and performed in-vacuo analysis using ARPES and STM to confirm the growth quality and analyze the band structure, laying the groundwork for future MBE studies that utilize strain engineering to study the strong to weak TI transition and the observation of a large gap QSHI.

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Presenters

  • Timothy Pillsbury

    Department of Physics and Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Physics, Pennsylvania State University

Authors

  • Timothy Pillsbury

    Department of Physics and Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Physics, Pennsylvania State University

  • Anthony Richardella

    Department of Physics and Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Physics, Pennsylvania State University

  • Yanan Li

    Department of Physics and Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania State University

  • Nitin Samarth

    Department of Physics and Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Physics, Penn State University, Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, Physics, Pennsylvania State University